Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
, January 1885. ''Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.]] | birth_place = England | death_date = September | death_place = England | known_for = Poetry, political activist, polemicist, adventurer, Arabian horse breeder | occupation = Poet, essayist | religion = | spouse = Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, née King-Noel, 15th Baroness Wentworth | children = Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth | website = | footnotes = }} Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 - 10 September 1922) was an English poet.Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Web, July 9, 2013. Best known for his poetry, he also wrote a number of political essays and polemics. Life Blunt was born at Petworth House in Sussex. His mother was a Catholic convert and he was educated at Twyford School, Stonyhurst and at St Mary's College, Oscott. He served in the Diplomatic Service from 1858 to 1869. In 1869, he married Lady Anne Noel, who was the daughter of the Earl of Lovelace and granddaughter of Lord Byron. Together they travelled through Spain, Algeria, Egypt, the Syrian Desert, and extensively in the Middle East, and India. Based upon pure-blooded Arabian horses they obtained in Egypt and the Nejd, they co-founded Crabbet Arabian Stud, and later purchased a property near Cairo, named Sheykh Obeyd, which housed their horse breeding operation in Egypt.Wentworth, The Authentic Arabian Horse Blunt generally opposed British imperialism as a matter of philosophy, and his support for Irish causes led to his imprisonment in 1888. Wilfrid and Lady Anne's only child to live to maturity was Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth, later known as Lady Wentworth. As an adult, she was married in Cairo but moved permanently to the Crabbet Park Estate in 1904. Wilfrid had a number of mistresses, among them a long term relationship with the courtesan Catherine "Skittles" Walters, and eventually moved another mistress, Dorothy Carleton, into his home, an event which triggered Lady Anne's legal separation from him in 1906. At that time, Lady Anne signed a Deed of Partition drawn up by Wilfrid. Under its terms, unfavourable to Lady Anne, she kept the Crabbet Park property (where their daughter Judith lived) and half the horses, while Blunt took Caxtons Farm, also known as Newbuildings, and the rest of the stock. Always struggling with financial concerns and chemical dependency issues, Wilfrid sold off numerous horses in order to pay debts, and constantly attempted to obtain additional assets. Lady Anne left the management of her properties to Judith, and spent many months of every year in Egypt at the Sheykh Obeyd estate, moving there permanently in 1915.Wentworth, The Authentic Arabian Horse Due primarily to the manoeuvring of Wilfrid in an attempt to disinherit Judith and obtain the entire Crabbet property for himself, Judith and her mother were estranged at the time of Lady Anne's death in 1917, and thus Lady Anne's share of the Crabbet Stud passed to Judith's daughters, under the oversight of an independent trustee. Wilfrid filed a lawsuit soon afterward. Ownership of the Arabian horses went back and forth between the estates of father and daughter in the following years. Wilfrid sold yet more horses in his control, mostly to pay off debts, and shot at least four in an attempt to spite his daughter, action which required intervention of the trustee of the estate with a court injunction to prevent him from further "dissipating the assets" of the estate. The lawsuit was eventually settled in favour of the granddaughters in 1920, and Judith bought their share from the trustee, combining it with her own assets and reuniting the stud. Father and daughter briefly reconciled shortly before Wilfrid's death in 1922, but his promise to rewrite his will to restore Judith's inheritance never materialised.Wentworth, The Authentic Arabian Horse Work in Africa In the early 1880s Britain was struggling with its Egyptian colony. Wilfrid Blunt was sent to notify Sir Edward Malet, the British agent, as to the Egyptian public opinion concerning the recent changes in government and development policies. In mid-December 1881 Blunt met with Arabi, called "El Wahid" (the Only One) due to his popularity with the Egyptians. Arabi was impressed with Blunt's enthusiasm and appreciation of his culture. Their mutual respect created an environment in which Arabi could peacefully explain the reasoning behind a new patriotic movement, "Egypt for the Egyptians". Over the course of several days, Arabi explained the complicated background of the revolutionaries and their determination to rid themselves of the Turkish oligarchy. Wilfrid Blunt was vital in the relay of this information to the British empire as it helped them determine their course of action. In 1882 Blunt championed the cause of Ahmed Urabi Pasha, which led him to be banned from entering Egypt for 4 years.New International Encyclopedia Recognition 8 of his poems ("Song", "The Desolate City", "With Esther", "To Manon, on his Fortune in loving Her", "St. Valentine's Day", "Gibraltar", "Written at Florence", and "The Two Highwaymen") were included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900."Alphabetical list of authors: Addison, Joseph to Brome, Alexander. Arthur Quiller-Couch, editor, Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900 (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1919). Bartleby.com, Web, May 15, 2012. Publications Poetry * Sonnets and Songs (as "Proteus"). London: John Murray, 1875. * The Love Sonnets of Proteus. London: C. Kegan Paul, 1881. *''The Wind and the Whirlwind. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1883. *A New Pilgrimage, and other poems. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1889. *In Vinculus. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1889. *The Love-Lyrics and Sonnets of Proteus. Hammersmith, UK: Kelmscott Press, , 1892. *The celebrated romance of the stealing of the mare: Translated from the original Arabic by Anne Blunt. Done into verse by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. London: Reeves & Turner, 1892. *The Poetry of Wilfrid Blunt. (edited by William Ernest Henley and George O'Brien Wyndham). London: Heinemann, 1898. *''Love Poems of W.S. Blunt. London & New York: John Lane, 1902. * The Seven Golden Odes of Pagan Arabia: Known also as the Moallakat (with Lady Anne Blunt). London: privately printed by the Chiswick Press, 1903. * The Poetical Works of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. (2 volumes), London: Macmillan, 1914; (1 volume), Grosse Point, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968. Volume I, Volume II. *''Poems'' (edited by Floyd Dell). London: Macmillan, 1923; New York: Knopf, 1923. Plays *''The Little Left Hand: A mid-Victorian drama in three acts''. London: Macmillan, 1914. *''Fand of the Fair Cheek: A three-act tragedy in rhymed verse''. Privately printed, 1904. Fiction * Esther: A young man's tragedy. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1893. ** with The Love Sonnets of Proteus. Boston: Copeland & Day, 1895. * Griselda: A society novel in rhymed verse. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1893 *''Satan Absolved: A Victorian mystery. London & New York: John Lane, 1899. Non-fiction * ''The Future of Islam. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1882. *''Ideas About India. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1885. * ''Atrocities of Justice under British Rule in Egypt. London: T.F. Unwin, 1906. *''Francis Thompson. London: Burns & Oates, 1907. * ''Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt London: T.F. Unwin, 1907; New York: Knopf, 1907; New York: H. Fertig, 1967. London: Gregg International, 1969. *''The New Situation in Egypt''. London: Burns & Oates, 1908. * India under Ripon: A private diary.Note: Ripon refers to George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon London & Leipzig: T. Fisher Unwin, 1909. *''Gordon at Khartoum. London: Stephen Swift, 1911. * ''The Land War in Ireland. London: Stephen Swift, 1912; New York: AMS Press, 1983. Letters and journals * Proteus and Amadeus: A Correspondence (with Charles Meynell; edited by [[Aubrey de Vere). London: C. Kegan Paul, 1878. * My Diaries: Being a personal narrative of events, 1888-1914. (2 volumes), London: Secker, 1919; New York: Knopf, 1923. Part I (1888-1900); Part II (1900-1914). Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat..Search results = au:Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, July 9, 2013. See also *List of British poets References *Wentworth, Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness (1979) The Authentic Arabian Horse, 3rd ed. London: George Allen & Unwin Notes External links ;Poems *Blunt in A Victorian Anthology: "To Manon," "To the Same," "Laughter and Death," "Gibraltar," "The Old Squire" * Selected Poetry of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840-1922) (7 poems) at Representative Poetry Online. *Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at EnglishVerse.com. (the 8 poems from the Oxford Book of English Verse) * Sonnets by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at Sonnet Central. * Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at PoemHunter (410 poems) *Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at Poetry Nook (438 poems) ;Books * *Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at YouTube ;About *Wilfrid Scawen Blunt in the Encyclopædia Britannica *"Arab Pen, English Purse: John Sabunji and Wilfrid Scawen Blunt" - Blunt's political activities in the Middle East, by Martin Kramer Category:1840 births Category:1922 deaths Category:English poets Category:Victorian poets Category:Old Stonyhursts Category:Arabian and part-Arabian horses Category:Alumni of St. Mary's College, Oscott Category:People from Petworth Category:Old Twyfordians Category:20th-century poets Category:19th-century poets Category:Poets Category:English-language poets Category:Sonneteers